LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] [mint 17.3] Xserver failed to start

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akuthia

06-29-2016 07:11 AM

[mint 17.3] Xserver failed to start

2 Attachment(s)

Hey everyone, been a while since I dipped my feet in the water but I'm back again.

So, late yesterday afternoon, I started to have a cascading flow of problems after trying to start a new game on steam.

First, I had to reboot, as the game started but "both" of my monitors were blank. I say both, because there's a third (my TV) but it's supposed to be a clone of my primary. Reboot, try again, same issue, think about TV, turn on TV, game there. Strange. Exit game, other two monitors stay black. Try to reset displays from the gui, can't get them broken apart, only appears to have one monitor. Reboot again.

Code:

"Cinnamon has crashed and you're currently in fallback mode, do you want to restart?"

Error message is being display, half on my monitor, half on my tv.

click yes, same error returns, but now I've got a limited gui with applications and places, across the top.

click yes a few more times, no changes.

Get my main monitor back as primary, things no longer looking so bad, however, mint claims I need to reboot after making changes to my display properties (huh, is this windows XP?)

Code:

Xserver has failed to start

And that is where I'm at this morning.

I have tried a lot of things, from removing and recreating xorg.conf, both the ATI specific one, and the generic one, but xorg complains about mesa as well when trying to use the generic one.

Have tried both update and upgrade

att'd to reinstall Xserver, unable to do so because dependencies won't be installed...

about to try these steps although i think i did do the reconfigure

beachboy2

06-29-2016 11:56 PM

akuthia,

A lot of software rendering problems arise with using Cinnamon and it is advisable to use MATE or Xfce instead.

There is no need to do a fresh installation unless you wish to do so.

See post #7 here:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...it-4175582092/

akuthia

07-03-2016 06:18 PM

Hey Beachboy, sorry for the slow response. After doing an upgrade, and once again killing Mint (this time I had installed the mate version) I'm going to at least dual boot with ubuntu. I don't know what it is but i get the feeling that Mint just doesnt like me

AwesomeMachine

07-03-2016 09:07 PM

You might try xrandr to set the displays.

akuthia

07-04-2016 06:02 AM

I'll try it next time (if there is one) I've been extremely frustrated this round with trying linux. I'm starting to be convinced that some part of the Mint upgrade in 17.3 is breaking something with my video card (yes, it's an ATI).

I have just now reformatted my usb stick (realizing i was just overwriting and or leaving files there, and thinking perhaps that was causing problems with the installer.

I'm going to try to install mint one more time, do the upgrade before anything else, and if it still dies, i think i'm done, I love fixing things, but when the "fix" is multiple ENTIRE system wipes and reinstalls, it gets to be not fun

Habitual

07-04-2016 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akuthia (Post 5567840)

Code:

[138334.966] (II) Module fglrxdrm: vendor="FireGL - AMD Technologies Inc."

[138334.966]        compiled for 1.4.99.906, module version = 15.30.3

[138334.966] (II) AMD Proprietary Linux Driver Version Identifier:15.30.3

[138334.966] (II) AMD Proprietary Linux Driver Release Identifier: UNSUPPORTED-15.302                  

[138334.966] (II) AMD Proprietary Linux Driver Build Date: Dec 17 2015 02:43:16

[138334.966] (--) using VT number 7

emphasis mine.
How did you install the Video Driver in Mint 17.3 exactly?

Let us know if you're interested in some help.
You want to fix Mint, or Steam or both?
We'll need this output from your 17.3 install.

Code:

inxi -Fsx

and the location of the instructions you read/followed to install steam.

akuthia

07-04-2016 07:22 AM

I installed from the amd website. I'm sort of baffled it would claim it's not supported I'm going to double check the website now (baffled because it's not like it's an old, or weak card)

edit to add: aaand I screwed up my numbers. thought it was an r9 290 turns out it's a 390.....

edit 2: the command is giving info about the processor, is that what you wanted?

Habitual

07-04-2016 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akuthia (Post 5570204)

Use the Driver Manager in LinuxMint and it will select the correct driver (a known working one), or next best thing.
Only download from AMD, (don't install yet).

IF the Driver Manager fails, then there may be additional steps.

akuthia

07-04-2016 07:43 AM

ok so i'm going with the fglrx-updates one.

The reason i went straight to the amd site, is because i'd heard it was the only way to get multi monitor support. i have 2 and a half/3 monitors. i say 2 and a half because one is my tv that i only use for streaming and some games, but that was mostly in windows it doesnt seem to work as well here in linuxville

akuthia

07-04-2016 03:31 PM

this is the information coming out of lshw currently

Code:

      description: VGA compatible controller

      product: Tonga PRO [Radeon R9 285/380] [1002:6939]

      vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] [1002]

      physical id: 0

      bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0

      version: f1

      width: 64 bits

      clock: 33MHz

      capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom

      configuration: driver=fglrx_pci latency=0

      resources: irq:27 memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:dfe00000-dfffffff ioport:be00(size=256) memory:fda80000-fdabffff memory:fda00000-fda1ffff

2 things stick out to me, one, it's actually a 390, and 2, it claims it's clock speed is a "blazing" 33 Mhz....

Habitual

07-04-2016 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akuthia (Post 5570412)

this is the information coming out of lshw currently

Code:

      description: VGA compatible controller

      product: Tonga PRO [Radeon R9 285/380] [1002:6939]

      vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] [1002]

      physical id: 0

      bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0

      version: f1

      width: 64 bits

      clock: 33MHz

      capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom

      configuration: driver=fglrx_pci latency=0

      resources: irq:27 memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:dfe00000-dfffffff ioport:be00(size=256) memory:fda80000-fdabffff memory:fda00000-fda1ffff

2 things stick out to me, one, it's actually a 390, and 2, it claims it's clock speed is a "blazing" 33 Mhz....

Can we have the inxi output of

Code:

inxi -Fsz

please from Mint?

akuthia

07-04-2016 04:12 PM

Code:

system:    Host: david-GA-970A-D3 Kernel: 3.19.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit)

          Desktop: MATE 1.12.0  Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa

Machine:  Mobo: Gigabyte model: GA-970A-D3 v: x.x

          Bios: Award v: F12 date: 09/03/2013

CPU:      Hexa core AMD FX-6300 Six-Core (-MCP-) cache: 12288 KB 

          clock speeds: max: 3500 MHz 1: 1400 MHz 2: 2500 MHz 3: 1400 MHz

          4: 1400 MHz 5: 1400 MHz 6: 1400 MHz

Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Tonga PRO [Radeon R9 285/380]

          Display Server: X.Org 1.17.1 drivers: ati,fglrx (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,radeon)

          Resolution: 1920x1080@60.0hz, 1920x1080@60.0hz, 1280x1024@60.0hz

          GLX Renderer: AMD Radeon R9 380 Series

          GLX Version: 4.5.13399 - CPC 15.201.1151

Audio:    Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Device aad8

          driver: snd_hda_intel

          Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

          driver: snd_hda_intel

          Card-3 Logitech H600 [Wireless Headset] driver: USB Audio

          Card-4 Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX driver: USB Audio

          Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.19.0-32-generic

Network:  Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller

          driver: r8169

          IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>

Drives:    HDD Total Size: 4200.9GB (1.0% used)

          ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST3000DM001 size: 3000.6GB

          ID-2: /dev/sdb model: SAMSUNG_HD400LJ size: 400.1GB

          ID-3: /dev/sdc model: SAMSUNG_HD400LJ size: 400.1GB

          ID-4: /dev/sdd model: Crucial_CT240M50 size: 240.1GB

          ID-5: /dev/sde model: WDC_WD1600BEVS size: 160.0GB

Partition: ID-1: / size: 220G used: 6.2G (3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdd1

          ID-2: /boot size: 124M used: 45M (38%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1

          ID-3: /home size: 367G used: 35G (10%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdc1

RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present

Sensors:  System Temperatures: cpu: 37.2C mobo: N/A

          Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A

Info:      Processes: 231 Uptime: 8:27 Memory:

Habitual

07-05-2016 07:10 AM

Thank you for the formatted :) output.
Haven't dissected it and nothing sticks out.

I would run Driver Manager and can you grab a screenshot of the listing?
If not, what is "recommended" in that dialog?
What is selected in that dialog?

Failing any edits there, I'm inclined to also suggest the Xfce version of LM 17.3

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/Home <-- Bookmark it.
Learn it, Live it, Love it.

akuthia

07-05-2016 03:37 PM

1 Attachment(s)

See attached for the driver listing.

What exactly would change by choosing a different DE?

beachboy2

07-05-2016 04:40 PM

akuthia,

Quote:

What exactly would change by choosing a different DE?

Not an awful lot is the short answer.

This video of Cinnamon vs MATE may be helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfNHnmX3GNY

Generally speaking, always go for the Recommended driver in Driver Manager.

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